500 Years of Indigenous Resistance, 2nd Edition

GO rD hIll

maNIFesT DesTINY aND

The U.s. INDI aN Wars

While the U.S. was in the process

of establishing itself as an impe-

rialist world power, it was still

struggling to consolidate itself as

a continental base and countering

armed resistance by First Nations.

Prior to the U.S.-British War

of 1812, Louisiana was purchased

from France, in 1803, and Spain

had ceded Florida in 1819. By

1824, the Bureau of Indian Affairs

was organized as part of the War

Department. Military campaigns

were launched against First Na-

tions, from the Shawnee of the

Mississippi Valley to the Semi-

nole in Florida. At the same time,

the legalistic instruments for oc-

cupation were being introduced.

In 1830 the Indian Removal Act

was implemented, and in 1834

Congress reorganized the various

departments dealing with Indian

repression by creating the U.S.

Department of Indian Affairs, and the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act

which redefined the ‘Indian Territory’ and ‘Permanent Indian Frontier’. The

‘Indian Territory’ had been previously defined in 1825 as lands west of the

Mississippi. Following the formation of the territories of Wisconsin and

Iowa, the frontier was extended from the Mississippi to the 95th meridian.

The Indian Removal Act was directed at forced relocation of Natives east

of the 95th meridian to the west of it. In 1838, U.S. troops forced thousands of

Tatanka Yotanka (Sitting Bull)